Percy Saltzman
Encyclopedia
Percy Saltzman, was a meteorologist and television personality best remembered for being the first weatherman
in Canadian television
history.
As a pioneer in weather forecasting, he was the first Canadian to present the weather in satellite
and radar
images,and to give road reports and forest fires. He also hosted numerous public affairs programs on CBC and, in 1969, along with Lloyd Robertson
, he hosted ten days of coverage of the first moon landing
for CBC Television
.
, his family moved to Neudorf, Saskatchewan
to operate a general store
. In 1925, they moved to Vancouver
, British Columbia
where he studied at King George Secondary School
and the University of British Columbia
.
He was the eldest of four children of Solomon and Elizabeth Saltzman. His father and mother had immigrated to Canada from Ukraine
in 1911. He was a good student and won the Governor-General Lord Willingdon's Silver Medal for coming in first in the province in his final high school exams.
In the 1930s he was a political activist and once shared a stage with Stafford Cripps
at a Vancouver socialist rally. Saltzman maintained his left-wing convictions into later life. His son, Paul, said of him "(h)e came out of the Depression in Western Canada and that kind of skewed his values. He was an armchair socialist, but that didn't translate into action."
After their Vancouver grocery store failed, Saltzman's parents moved to Los Angeles
along with his youngest brother, Kenneth Saltzman and he rarely saw them. His junior brother, Morris Saltzman remained in Vancouver until his death in 1988. For his activism in bringing different religious and cultural factions to respect one another and work together, Morris received the Order of Canada several years before Percy was so honoured.
Percy moved to Montreal
and studied medicine
at McGill University
School of Medicine until 1935 when he met and married his first wife, Rose Kogan (1911–1988), in 1935. He dropped out of medical school around this time and took a series of odd jobs such as working in a clothing store, an envelope opener in a puzzle contest and as a waiter before entering the printing business. He then moved with her to Toronto
in 1937 where he worked as a Linotype
operator at Eveready Press for several years. In 1943, he became a meteorology officer for the weather service of the federal government and was attached to the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan
for the remainder of World War II
. He would retain his position with the Dominion Weather Service for 25 years. It was essentially an extension of this function for him to be given the opportunity to bring his expertise first to radio beginning in 1947 and later to television as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
, another Canadian government agency, embarked on this new medium.
"He kept that job at the weather office the entire time he was on television with CBC because he didn't think TV was secure. He wasn't sure that TV would last," said his grandson, CBC reporter Aaron Saltzman
.
which hit Toronto just over two years after his television career began. He was a staple at CBC through the following decades and was initially paid $10 for each appearance. While pursuing what he considered a sideline career on television, he remained with the Dominion Weather Service and rose to the position of head of the verification section finally leaving in 1968 to join the CBC full time. During his stint at CBC he hosted a multitude of special shows and also developed into one of Canada's best interviewers. He left the network in 1972 to become a co-host of CTV
's new morning show Canada AM
.
His presentations, before the introduction of such amenities as computer-enhanced satellite displays and graphics, involved a blackboard
and chalk
as he drew maps, suns, clouds, snowflakes, fronts, etc., ending with his signature toss of the chalk, and his "and that's the weather picture" as he caught it. (He is said to have always caught it, although he admitted having dropped it once, but only once.)
Saltzman once estimated he had done 9,000 weather forecasts on radio and television and interview
ed more than 1,000 people. He used no notes or teleprompter
s relating his forecasts entirely from memory.
After leaving CTV, he worked at CITY-TV
in 1974 (Free For All), then he became a freelancer until 1980 when he joined Global TV for the next two years.
He also broadcast local radio weather reports in Toronto at CBC Radio
, CKEY
, and CFRB
.
He died on January 15, 2007 in Toronto
.
Weather forecasting
Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a given location. Human beings have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia, and formally since the nineteenth century...
in Canadian television
Canadian television
Canadian television may refer to:*Television in Canada - general information about the Canadian television industry*CTV Television Network - a specific Canadian TV network; CTV is sometimes interpreted as "Canadian Television"...
history.
As a pioneer in weather forecasting, he was the first Canadian to present the weather in satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
and radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
images,and to give road reports and forest fires. He also hosted numerous public affairs programs on CBC and, in 1969, along with Lloyd Robertson
Lloyd Robertson
Lloyd Robertson, OC is the currently the co-host of CTV's weekly magazine series, W5. Robertson previously served as the chief anchor and senior editor of CTV's national evening newscast, CTV News with Lloyd Robertson, until September, 2011, when he retired from the CTV National News...
, he hosted ten days of coverage of the first moon landing
Moon landing
A moon landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. This includes both manned and unmanned missions. The first human-made object to reach the surface of the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 2 mission on 13 September 1959. The United States's Apollo 11 was the first manned...
for CBC Television
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
.
Early life
Born in WinnipegWinnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
, his family moved to Neudorf, Saskatchewan
Neudorf, Saskatchewan
-Notables:* Henry Taube - Won Nobel Prize in Chemistry.* Percy Saltzman - First Weatherman in Canada* Doreen Kimura - Professor Simon Fraser University, winner of the Kistler Prize* Ed Litzenberger - NHL hockey player-References:...
to operate a general store
General store
A general store, general merchandise store, or village shop is a rural or small town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, sometimes in a small space, where people from the town and surrounding rural areas come to purchase all their general...
. In 1925, they moved to Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
where he studied at King George Secondary School
King George Secondary School
King George Secondary School is a public secondary school located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.The school is located in the West End, with two elementary schools feeding in...
and the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
.
He was the eldest of four children of Solomon and Elizabeth Saltzman. His father and mother had immigrated to Canada from Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
in 1911. He was a good student and won the Governor-General Lord Willingdon's Silver Medal for coming in first in the province in his final high school exams.
In the 1930s he was a political activist and once shared a stage with Stafford Cripps
Stafford Cripps
Sir Richard Stafford Cripps was a British Labour politician of the first half of the 20th century. During World War II he served in a number of positions in the wartime coalition, including Ambassador to the Soviet Union and Minister of Aircraft Production...
at a Vancouver socialist rally. Saltzman maintained his left-wing convictions into later life. His son, Paul, said of him "(h)e came out of the Depression in Western Canada and that kind of skewed his values. He was an armchair socialist, but that didn't translate into action."
After their Vancouver grocery store failed, Saltzman's parents moved to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
along with his youngest brother, Kenneth Saltzman and he rarely saw them. His junior brother, Morris Saltzman remained in Vancouver until his death in 1988. For his activism in bringing different religious and cultural factions to respect one another and work together, Morris received the Order of Canada several years before Percy was so honoured.
Percy moved to Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
and studied medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
at McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
School of Medicine until 1935 when he met and married his first wife, Rose Kogan (1911–1988), in 1935. He dropped out of medical school around this time and took a series of odd jobs such as working in a clothing store, an envelope opener in a puzzle contest and as a waiter before entering the printing business. He then moved with her to Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
in 1937 where he worked as a Linotype
Linotype machine
The Linotype typesetting machine is a "line casting" machine used in printing. The name of the machine comes from the fact that it produces an entire line of metal type at once, hence a line-o'-type, a significant improvement over manual typesetting....
operator at Eveready Press for several years. In 1943, he became a meteorology officer for the weather service of the federal government and was attached to the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan
British Commonwealth Air Training Plan
The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan , known in some countries as the Empire Air Training Scheme , was a massive, joint military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, during the Second World War...
for the remainder of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He would retain his position with the Dominion Weather Service for 25 years. It was essentially an extension of this function for him to be given the opportunity to bring his expertise first to radio beginning in 1947 and later to television as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
, another Canadian government agency, embarked on this new medium.
"He kept that job at the weather office the entire time he was on television with CBC because he didn't think TV was secure. He wasn't sure that TV would last," said his grandson, CBC reporter Aaron Saltzman
Aaron Saltzman
Aaron Saltzman is a Canadian journalist for CBC Television, based in Toronto. He is the host of CBC News: Toronto at 5:30 and CBC News: Toronto Late Night. He also fills in for Diana Swain on CBC News: Toronto at 6 when she is away. He is the grandson of Percy Saltzman.- Reference :...
.
Television career
Saltzman was the first person to appear on CBC English-language television when the service was launched on September 8, 1952. Initially, he gave the weather on a puppet show, Uncle Chichimus and Hollyhock, but he soon delivered forecasts on Stop Watch and Listen and then became co-host of Tabloid, the CBC's daily current affairs and interview show His first major story was Hurricane HazelHurricane Hazel
Hurricane Hazel was the deadliest and costliest hurricane of the 1954 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm killed as many as 1,000 people in Haiti before striking the United States near the border between North and South Carolina, as a Category 4 hurricane...
which hit Toronto just over two years after his television career began. He was a staple at CBC through the following decades and was initially paid $10 for each appearance. While pursuing what he considered a sideline career on television, he remained with the Dominion Weather Service and rose to the position of head of the verification section finally leaving in 1968 to join the CBC full time. During his stint at CBC he hosted a multitude of special shows and also developed into one of Canada's best interviewers. He left the network in 1972 to become a co-host of CTV
CTV television network
CTV Television Network is a Canadian English language television network and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival...
's new morning show Canada AM
Canada AM
Canada AM is a Canadian breakfast television news show, which has aired on the CTV Television Network since 1972. It is currently hosted by Beverly Thomson and Seamus O'Regan, with Marci Ien reporting from the headline news desk and Jeff Hutcheson presenting the weather forecast and sports...
.
His presentations, before the introduction of such amenities as computer-enhanced satellite displays and graphics, involved a blackboard
Blackboard
A chalkboard is a reusable writing surface.Blackboard may also refer to:* Blackboards are synonymous with "boards of infamy", an element of agitation-propaganda in the Soviet Union in 1930s, coincidental with Holodomor...
and chalk
Chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....
as he drew maps, suns, clouds, snowflakes, fronts, etc., ending with his signature toss of the chalk, and his "and that's the weather picture" as he caught it. (He is said to have always caught it, although he admitted having dropped it once, but only once.)
Saltzman once estimated he had done 9,000 weather forecasts on radio and television and interview
Interview
An interview is a conversation between two people where questions are asked by the interviewer to obtain information from the interviewee.- Interview as a Method for Qualitative Research:"Definition" -...
ed more than 1,000 people. He used no notes or teleprompter
Teleprompter
An autocue is a display device that prompts the person speaking with an electronic visual text of a speech or script. Using a teleprompter is similar to the practice of using cue cards...
s relating his forecasts entirely from memory.
After leaving CTV, he worked at CITY-TV
CITY-TV
CITY-DT, Channel 57 , is a television station based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada owned and operated by Rogers Media...
in 1974 (Free For All), then he became a freelancer until 1980 when he joined Global TV for the next two years.
He also broadcast local radio weather reports in Toronto at CBC Radio
CBLA-FM
CBLA-FM is a Canadian radio station. It is the flagship station of the CBC Radio One network, broadcasting at 99.1 FM in Toronto, Ontario.- History :...
, CKEY
CHKT (AM)
CHKT is a Canadian radio station, airing at 1430 AM in Toronto, Ontario. The station, owned by the Fairchild Radio service, airs Chinese language programming.-History:The station first aired in 1925 as AM 840 CKCL, owned by the Dominion Battery company...
, and CFRB
CFRB (AM)
CFRB, Newstalk 1010, is an AM radio clear-channel station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, broadcasting on 1010 kHz, with a shortwave radio simulcast by CFRX-SW on 6.070 MHz. The station broadcasts a mix of talk and news throughout the day from its transmitter located in the community of...
.
Later life
In 1990 he married his second wife, Grace Audrey Ford (née Modeland). He has two sons from his first marriage, Earl (born 1942) and Paul (born 1943).He died on January 15, 2007 in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
.
Awards/Recognitions
- President, ACTRA-Toronto, 1960
- TV GuideTV GuideTV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
Award, 1960 - Queen's Jubilee MedalQueen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee MedalThe Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal was a commemorative medal created in 2002 to mark the 50th anniversary of the accession to the throne of Queen Elizabeth II...
, 2002 - TV Career Cited in Environment Canada's Top 20th Century Weather Events, 2002
- Order of CanadaOrder of CanadaThe Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
, 2002 - Canadian "Who's WhoWho's WhoWho's Who is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biographical information on a particular group of people...
" 2003 - Canadian Broadcast Hall of FameCanadian Broadcast Hall of FameThe Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame, started in 1982, recognizes Canadians in broadcasting or entertainment related industries who have "achieved outstanding success in helping raise industry standards from a material or humanitarian standpoint."...
, 2004